


The Things That Changed, The Things That Didn't

by BloodRedTitanium1022



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Following P5Rs true ending, Persona 5: The Royal Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:41:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28193367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BloodRedTitanium1022/pseuds/BloodRedTitanium1022
Summary: It's been a few years since the Phantom Thieves disbanded and they had decided to go their own ways. When Ann returns to Tokyo for a short visit, a surprise encounter on the roof makes her realize just how much of a difference it makes to have a friend that really knows her.For all of you RyuAnn-shippers who have been saddened by the ending of P5R.
Relationships: Sakamoto Ryuji/Takamaki Ann
Comments: 6
Kudos: 28





	The Things That Changed, The Things That Didn't

Ann had imagined her return home for the holidays a little different. Back in the States, where she had built up enough – maybe even questionable – reputation, she had gotten used to not being anonymous anymore. She knew that a few of her campaigns were also printed in Japan but they probably weren’t as interested in all the gossip surrounding her. But now, as she stepped out of the airport and saw the flashlight out of the corner of her eye, she figured that she might need to overthink that. When she turned her head and saw the paparazzi gaping at her, she knew that this would get difficult.

She looked up at the sky, from which small snowflakes drifted down. If her management had told her anything regarding tabloids and paparazzis, it was to leave them be and learn to ignore them. While at first, Ann had thought that she wouldn’t take anything from anyone and if someone would get too annoying, she would just tell him to fuck off, after her first official “drama” had made headlines because she had yelled at a particularly annoying “journalist”, she had decided to tolerate it. At least that’s what she told herself she did. Sometimes she still got so angry that she wanted to throw stuff, when some tabloid posted a badly taken photo of her and claimed that it was taken during a situation that had never existed. She took a deep breath to gather herself, gave an obligatory smile for the camera and started walking to the taxis. She had no doubt that the reason why the paparazzo was on his phone as she got into a cab was to inform all his friends.

She decided to not drive to her parents apartment straight away. Ann was experienced enough to know that that one guy would immediately follow her trail. While she wasn’t in the position where she had to keep her parents privacy, since they were in a sort-of public position too as fashion-designers, she still didn’t want the paparazzi standing in front of her home. Some places needed to stay sacred. And so she decided to go to Central Street before sending the cab-driver to her parents apartment to deliver her suitcase. She had found out that it was easier to disappear in huge crowds, even though it might prove a lot harder in Japan. She had forgotten just how much she had stood out. Central Street still looked the same as it had when she hung out with Shiho here, only for this time of the year, it was beautifully decorated in red and green lights. The people bustling through the street actually had a calming effect on Ann when she let herself be swept forward by the masses of people. It was almost soothing to hear the people talk in a language that she hadn’t heard in so long but that had been a part of her for a few very important years in her life. When the smell of fresh crepes caught her nose, she decided to leave the stream of people to get in line at the crepe-stand.

By the time she had gotten her order of double chocolate with strawberries, a group of paparazzi had managed to catch up with her. The flashing lights of their cameras started to shift the attention of the public towards her and soon she didn’t feel like she was molten into a crowd anymore, when a small circle started to form, consisting of both photographers, a few tabloid-journalists with notepads and the recording-device turned on on their cellphones and bystanders who started to wonder whether they knew who she was.

“Takamaki! Do you have a new project here in Tokyo? Maybe even a collaboration with your parents?” one of the reporters asked excitedly.

“Oh, no.” Ann replied, trying to stay polite when all she wanted to have was some peace. “I’m just here over the holidays. Nothing work-related.” she put on a smile and hoped that at least a few cute photos of her with a crepe in hand would come from this.

The reporter didn’t feel satisfied though when she asked with a wide smile “Is it maybe a lover, that you’re visiting? A high-school-sweetheart?”

Ann sighed. While she wasn’t entirely uninterested in gossip herself, she had to admit that it got annoying rather fast that as soon as you were single, everywhere you went was to a potential lover, date, affair, etc. She shook her head “No. It’s really just a long due visit home.”. With that she walked away.

When she heard the reporters high-heels clacking after her, she decided to disappear into the train-station. Apparently public places were off the board too for now. But home wasn’t a good idea either. And Boss and Futaba would kill her if she brought the tabloids to LeBlanc. Although Sojiro probably wouldn’t have a problem with chasing them out with a broom. But who knew what rumors that would spark? Ann sighed. She didn’t have much time to decide, before they would catch up with her again. She hurried down the stairs, shielding her still steaming crepes with her free hand as she traversed the masses only to squeeze into a train right before its doors shut. That would surely throw them off her track for a while. And where she was going, noone was going to find her anyway.

Walking into Shujin felt odd. She came between lessons so the commotion in the hallways were on a minimum too before the bell would eventually chime for lunch-break. And in case anyone asked what her business was, she could always say that she wanted to see the track-coach. But she didn’t even know if he was working today and he wasn’t the reason why she had chosen this place. On the other hand, she couldn’t deny that she would have liked to run into him, before she would see him along with all the others on their after-christmas-get-together. It’s certainly been a while and while she had missed all of her friends in Japan and she had maintained contact with each and every on of them, staying in touch with Ryuji had been awfully easy. Maybe it was because both of them had started somewhere completely new at the same time in their lives. The fact that they could still share their thoughts after their time as the Phantom Thieves was another huge part that Ann enjoyed. Overall, she felt like she could talk most freely about the good and the bad thoughts with him. Especially during their first months away from Tokyo, him in the new town with his rehab and her in an entire new country, they would lean on each other, mostly over text due to the different time zones.

The door was unlocked, as it always had been. When Ann stepped onto the roof, she was surprised to see that beside the vents, there still stood the old table and the close-to-breaking chair. Even Harus old planters were still here but Ann was sure that they had remained empty ever since Harus graduation.

When she sat down on the table that she had used to sit on so many years ago, on their first Phantom Thieves meetings, she felt grounded and for the first time since she stepped foot outside the airport she felt that she could breathe freely. Noone watching her from around the corner. Noone trying to take some photos that would be taken out of context later on. Just her and who she used to be. After defeating Maruki and returning the world to it’s real state, she had thought that nothing would be able to shake her that easily ever again. And overall, she felt that everything that she had been confronted with in her adult life was ridiculous compared to living in and escaping from Marukis perfect reality again. Ann had a small smile on her face when she took another deep breath and took in the peace and quiet as a soft gust of wind moved her hair and brushed her face. The snow had stopped on her way here. The heavenly scent that wafted from the crepes into her nose brought her back to reality. She decided to ignore the wooden fork that the vendor had given her and tore into her crepe by shuffling it to the edge of the paper plate and biting into it. What would the tabloids say about that? She could see the headlines “Ann Takamaki: Too sloppy to use cutlery!”. But not today.

She was about to take the second bite when the door suddenly burst open. She was about to jump off the table before she realized who it was that had just shouldered it open. Ann had known from photos and video chats, that he had stopped dying his hair. And still, seeing him in person and with his natural hair-color again made her heart flutter for a moment. There was a light shadow on his jaw and he was focused on something on his phone. In his other hand was a box of takeout-noodles. It felt like time slowed down as she sat and looked at him, without him realizing that she was there. And for some reason, she didn’t want to ruin the moment by saying something. How often had she seen him walk through this door? And when had her heart started missing a beat whenever he did?

Ryuji was halfway at his usual chair that he sat on during his lunch-breaks, when he noticed that something was off. While he was mentally preparing himself for acting like a teacher who would have to scamper away a snogging couple to get his peace and quiet in what he considered his spot, he found himself surprised when he saw her, of all people. He knew that she would be in Tokyo, but he had only anticipated seeing her in a few days at LeBlanc, and not on Shujins rooftop. Her eyes were still as popping as ever, even more than with the tons of eye-shadow, that he usually saw her with on all her social media posts. She wore a knit beanie, under which her blonde curls gushed out of. A small smudge of chocolate was in the corner of her mouth and somehow that was one of the biggest things that sent Ryujis heart for a loop.

“Don’t you have place in the teachers lounge to eat at now?” she asked with a smile when she watched him sit down on the single wonky chair.

“It’s kinda weird to sit with Kawakami and Chouno and all the others… I mean… Chouno almost let me fail english twice.” he replied as he flipped open the lid of his take-out-box.

“And now you’re one of them...” Ann smirked before taking a bite off her crepe.

Ryuji snapped apart his chopsticks “I guess. What about you? Can’t be here for long, if the tabloids haven’t spotted and written something about you.”

Ann sighed “You’ll probably read it tomorrow.” she thoughtfully looked across the roof and said “It.. was a bit shocking to see that everyone now knows me in Japan too.”

Ryuji raised an eyebrow “Are you kidding? You’re everywhere. Magazines, posters, billboards… It’s hard to not know your face by now.”

“It’s strange. The only reason I left was because I thought I didn’t have a future here and now I can’t even walk out the airport without someone waiting with a camera.” Ann looked at her paper plate and the half-eaten crepe “I’ve… actually been looking forward to a little peace and quiet. Guess that’s the reason why I came up here.”

Ryuji sucked in a noddle before saying “You’re lucky that the door’s open. Sometimes the janitor does his job and locks it.”

“I guess I would have just had to wait for you to arrive, Coach." Ann smiled "Seems like I’m not the only one who enjoys returning to this place.”

“It’s a sweet spot to clear your head. Some good things have happened up here.”

“And also bad ones...” Ann muttered as she looked to the edge where her best friend once had stood. “But I needed to remember all those things. I think I was starting to lose myself...”

“Seems like you’re wrapped up in other kinds of scandals now...” Ryuji uttered, recalling all the newsflashs that somehow became inevitable as soon as you followed someone on social media.

Ann let out a heavy-hearted sigh. It was almost embarrassing to know that all her friends from her past, who had known her as this fierce fighter now had to find out from tabloid-media that she was being slandered over something that had never happened the way the media portrayed it. “After finishing school, I thought that everyone would be past all the shallow gossip and high-school-mannerisms. Now I know that everyone calling me Kamoshidas girl was just the foreplay for being accused of sleeping with a director to get a part in a movie...”. For a moment she lost the appetite for her crepe. All those hateful messages she had received, just because someone had been jealous. So many people she thought that at least sympathized with her only to then notice that they had jumped on the bandwagon, claiming that they’ve always known that she was nothing but a cheap slut. “Did…. you believe them?”

“I’ve made that mistake once, I’m not gonna make it again.” he could still hit his head against a wall for being so blind and ignorant to actually believe that Ann would start something with a teacher, and especially with an asshole like Kamoshida.

Ann was relieved to hear that he didn’t think anything bad of her. It felt like it’s been too long since she had felt understood by someone. “Thanks. It’s feels good to hear that...”

“What about your other friends?” Ryuji asked. “Didn’t they support you too?”

She slightly shook her head “They’re not… those kind of friends.”

Ryuji raised an eyebrow “Whaddaya mean?”

Ann dangled her feet “Well… I know that they’re only around because of how we look together. I’m moderately famous and they’re too. And stories about friendships among celebrities always sell well. But I know that if the chance opens up to throw me under the bus for their own popularity, they would do it without a doubt.”

“Damn….” Ryuji muttered “I mean… I figured as much but...”

Ann was confused “How come?”

He shrugged “You didn’t really look happy in those photos you post...”

Ann gaped at him “What?”

He shrugged again, unfazed by her shocked face “You just… look dead in the eyes...”

She gasped and reached for her phone in her jacket “I do look happy! I trained in front of the mirror!”. She scrolled on her phone feverishly and almost shoved it into his face “How do I look sad in this one?!” she asked, upset, when she showed him one of her most recent posts for which she had actually felt pretty proud of her pretend-game.

Ryuji shrugged “I dunno. You just don’t look happy.”

Her shoulders dropped as she desperately groaned “Why do you see that?! I was trying so hard!” she sighed and put her phone away again before she took a frustrated bite from her crepe.

He smirked and leaned back in his seat before he said “I always said that you’re bad at acting.”

Ann glared at him with her mouth full. But there was something different about his teasing. Whenever her “friends” would make some mean comments about her, she knew that they were out to crush her ego and to make her doubt herself so that they would feel a little better about themselves. With him, she knew that deep down he actually cared about her. And she knew that she could tease him as much as he did her without either of them being angry. She snorted with her mouth half-full before replying “I got cast in a movie, so suck on that.”

“I know. We saw.” Ryuji had to give it to her.

“You did?” Ann asked, surprised.

“Futaba pulled it off the internet and we all got together to watch it.”

Ann didn’t know why she felt so touched by that. She just thought that it was really sweet that one reason for all of the Phantom Thieves to meet had been to watch a movie in which she had about two lines and three minutes of screen-time.

“None of us remember a lot though. We took a shot every five minutes until you showed up.” Ryuji added.

She actually had to laugh and for the first time in what felt like forever, she felt that it came from the bottom of her heart again. Was that why Ryuji was able to tell that she wasn’t happy in her recent pictures? Because he knew what her real laugh looked like? “So you enjoyed it?” she giggled.

Ryuji snorted “Most fun I’ve had in a while.”

“It was a thriller!” Ann exclaimed with a laugh.

He raised his hands “I really wouldn’t know.”

Both of them chuckled together for a moment.

“So I guess you’re “friends” didn’t watch it with you.” Ryuji asked, serious again. Thinking that she had noone to turn to in a different country was sad.

Ann shook her head “I didn’t really want to share it with them. They’d just get pissed and say that I rub my triumph in their faces.”

“Then why do you keep hanging out with them?” Ryuji asked, honestly clueless. He got up from the chair and arched his back, the box of noodles still in his hand. He took a few steps while taking occasional bites.

Ann could only shrug “It’s better than being all alone. I know that they’re not my real friends… but sometimes it’s nice to go along with it, even though they don’t really care about me.”

“Isn’t that lonely too?” he asked.

“I guess. But wasn’t it the same for you, when you moved away from Tokyo?” Ann asked.

“Yeah... That’s why I came back.” Ryuji replied. “Being the new kid was strange, even though we were about to graduate. And while I didn’t miss Shujin… I still felt like something was missing at the new place. Maybe it was this rooftop. Or the Protein Lovers that Ren and I would go to to train… I dunno. I felt really bad when I told my mom that I wanted to move back to Tokyo after finishing school. But ever since I’m here again… It feels like I’m really home. And I’m even working at Shujin now, even though I couldn’t have cared less about this place a few years ago...”

Ann had to smile as she looked over the roofs “I think I understand that now. It feels strange to live at my parents place again because it doesn’t feel like my home anymore but there’s something about walking down Central Street or just taking the last flight of steps up to this door…. It feels like this is the place where I found out who I really was and it will always be the place where I can be… Me again.”

Ryuji walked over to the table and leaned against it beside her. He shrugged “It’s never too late to come back, right?”

She looked at him out of the corner of her eyes. It actually sounded nice to be able to hang out with her real friends again. To eat lunch with Makoto and Haru. To hang out with him. To really laugh again. She had a small smile on her face when she replied “I guess. But I don’t think I’m ready to quit yet. I might not have real friends there but I enjoy the jobs I get. Maybe I’ll even land another role in a movie, where you won’t have to get so drunk?”

He seemed a bit sad about her reply but couldn’t hide a grin at her last remark.

Ann reached for the chopsticks that stuck out of the box in his hand and helped herself to a bite. When Ryujis raised eyebrow caught her eyes, she sipped in the last noodle with a small grin. She hadn’t realized how some of the old habits apparently were still in her muscle memory. Her heart fluttered a bit when he snorted with a small grin on his lips.

“Mmmm.. You have no idea how hard it is to come across good noodles in the States.” she hummed after helping herself to a second bite.

“Aren’t you supposed to be on a diet or something?” he asked the evergreen of questions.

She shook her head while chewing “I’m on vacation. My next job is in a few weeks. And it’s just make-up.”

Ryuji sighed “Will they totally wreak havoc on your face again?”

She raised an eyebrow at him “Say what?”

He realized that he probably had driven himself into a dead-end of uncomfortable outcomes. “That last campaign you were in… that with the weird lipstick...” he started, feverishly rubbing the back of his neck.

“Yeah?” Ann asked with a raised eyebrow while taking a bite off of her crepe again. Seeing him struggle to talk about it made her a bit excited for what was about to come.

“I dunno… You just looked strange. Like they’ve edited everythin’ out of your face that made you you.” he tried to seem chill when he shrugged but he could feel that he was just looking awkward.

A smile tugged at the corner of Anns mouth when she asked “You’re reading womens magazines now?”

His head went red “It’s my mom!” he defended himself. When Ann didn’t stop smirking at him, he groaned “I swear, she rips out your adds to show them to me.”

“Awww.” Ann said “That’s actually really sweet. If you hadn’t just said that they sucked.”

“I didn’t say that the photos suck!” Ryuji exclaimed. “There’s nothing wrong with the model but with the people who screw it up afterwards!”

For a moment, Ann didn’t know what to respond. After being among so many models recently, she hadn’t heard about the use of too much Photoshop in a while. Ryuji seemed equally speechless after his weird expression of appreciation of her looks. She could feel her cheeks getting warm when she asked “You think so?”

He raised an eyebrow at her “Stop acting like you don’t know that I think you’re pretty.”

Ann knew that there was nothing she could say against it. She had always known by the way that Ryuji looked at her, sometimes driven by raging hormones and sometimes with honest admiration. She wondered if he knew that she thought the same about him. Well maybe not that he was “pretty”. But he was attractive. Had always been, no matter whether his hair was blonde or black. “I like what you’ve done with your hair.” she whispered when their eyes met.

“Thanks...” Ryuji said, a bit perplexed “It’s… not much different really… I just don’t dye it anymore.”

Ann finished her crepe and put the empty paper plate aside as she looked into the sky “Did you ever wonder what would have happened, if we didn’t leave after the second year?”

Ryuji followed her gaze and replied “I dunno… We would have gone to Shujin together for another year… Graduated together...”

She nodded. Even though being in class without Ren would have been sad, she actually thought that Ryuji and her would have had a lot of fun with Futaba during her first year of school. And Ann would have probably started the school year knowing who she would hang out with at lunch, which hadn't happene often to her. And something told her that if they had stayed in Tokyo, something would have happened between them. Because ever since they became the Phantom Thieves, there had been signs. Signs that were a bit more than the eventual stare-down he’d give her. But it seemed that fate had taken them in different directions. Sitting on this rooftop with him telling her that it was never too late to come back… It sounded like an all-too-tempting invitation. She shifted a little closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder. To her surprise, she wasn’t excited or had a racing heart. It just felt…. right. “I don’t think that I want to live abroad forever.” she eventually said.

For the fact that Anns head was resting on his shoulder, Ryuji was oddly relaxed. “Oh yeah?” he softly asked before a smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth “Are you starting to get homesick now?”

“Maybe.” Ann replied. “Now that I think about, going back to all of my fake-friends after uniting again with my real ones feels super bitter...”

“You’re already thinking about going back? You just came here.” Ryuji said as he looked down at the top of her head.

Ann had to smile when she tilted her head and met his warm brown eyes. “You’re right.” she quietly said. “Let’s just pretend that I don’t have to leave by the end of next week. I don’t want to do anything special, I just want to hang out and do nothing, as if I’ve never been gone.”

“Sounds sweet.” he grinned. “There’s a ton of movies you have to catch up on.”

Ann grinned when she said “Then you’ll have to sit through all of them with me.”

Ryujis neck was burning when he replied “For real?”

She nodded “I mean.. we’re going to watch them at your place after all, right? Like in the old times?”

“Fine.” he sighed in an attempt to play hard to get. “But you’re aware that I have a new place now? So no homemade cookies from my mom.”

“I’ll be fine. I’m kinda excited to find out how you live.” she smirked “I’m sure it’s super messy.”

He rolled his eyes. Now he definitely had to clean up. “Just so you know, I’m screwed if you fall asleep on the couch again. My bed is in there.”

She placed her hand between them on the table when she laughed lightheartedly “It really was your fault for deciding to sit in that chair instead.”.

He raised an eyebrow at her. Back then, he hadn’t wanted to get too close in fear of making things awkward between them. But now, as they were sitting together on that table, her leaned against him, it felt like they had moved past that without even being present around each other for years. While they might have not seen each other over the last few years, they had still kept contact and had grown closer, maybe without even realizing it. Because why else would this unspoken understanding exist, that – contrary to some of the movie-nights earlier – this one would be without the rest of the Thieves? And why was there no doubt about it that this time, they would both be sitting on his couch? If he hadn’t been living in the moment so much right then, maybe he would have had time to be confused about how easy it had become to be close to her. And how nice it felt, especially because it was so effortless. There were no burning cheeks, no wonky knees, no nothing. Just them, sitting on their old high schools roof. Together.

Ann too felt like she didn’t need to say that this time they would be sitting next to each other, maybe even in the same position as they were in now. She chewed her lip when she remembered that this feeling of utter and deep happiness would end again in a few days. “Returning to Tokyo for good sounds… actually really nice.” she whispered. “But I think if I came back, I wouldn’t want to leave for a second time. And there’s some things that I still want to do abroad.” she took a deep breath before reluctantly saying “But until then… I think I’ll need to come for a visit more often. Even if it’s just for a movie-night and some laughs.”

Something about this felt like it had been supposed to happen a lot earlier but here they were now. Maybe everything would have been a bit different if they hadn’t decided to leave Tokyo after the Phantom Thieves disbanded. But even after not seeing each other for a few years, they ended up on this rooftop in what ended up as an oddly intimate and honest talk. And in the end, he felt that both of them thought about the same things, that didn’t need to be said out loud anymore. It had become obvious. Her hand was resting on the table between them when he put his hand on top of hers and laced their fingers together. “I’ll be here.”

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve been inspired by music again, so here it finally is: My first real RyuAnn one-shot!  
> There were a lot of reasons why the new ending of P5R left a bad taste in my mouth and pretty early after finishing Royal, I had wanted to write something about Ryuji and Ann reconnecting after both of them left town at the end of the game.  
> While it somehow made me really sad to think that most of the things I’ve written in my other work just didn’t happen in this timeline, the whole thing with “returning home and finding out who really knows you” is a nice theme. While writing teenage love is fun and all, there's also something interesting in them finding together as more matured adults who each had made their own experiences for a while.  
> And of course: Happy Holidays! Stay safe in times like these!
> 
> Also: The whole part with Ryuji disliking how Anns pictures are edited was inspired by ZolphDigglers “Picture Perfect”, probably one of my favorites.


End file.
